32mm Televue eyepiece in Celestron 130-eq

[SONY007]

Sorry newbie question coming

I just purchased a new Televue 32mm eyepiece, my first purchased since receiving my telescope for christmas. Well all it is I wanted to know is this, I tried out the eyepiece and it was pretty impressive but the only thing is the image was upside down, is that normal ? My other celestron eyepices show the image the right way up.

Just one more question. Whilst testing out the eyepiece and also with the celestron eyepieces that came with the scope, are you not able to zoom in on a particular spot of an image ?  I saw a sign on a building that I wanted to zoom in on to test how clear the image would be but the entire image would become either in or out of focus.

[NGC 1502]

Don't worry, we all had newbie questions 

You got a very nice eyepiece for your Christmas telescope !

It's normal for the image to be upside down in a telescope designed for astronomy.  Not at all sure why the Celestron EPs show a right way up image, unless you are using an image erector acessory of some sort ?

You have to use a zoom eyepiece to 'zoom in' on your target, normal fixed focal length eyepieces will not do that. You need to change eyepieces to get a larger image.

Regards, Ed.

[ronin]

Yes - upside down is normal.

The mirror "cancels" the left to right swap that was there.

[YKSE]

The image in a newtonian telescope, such as yours, will be 180 degree rotated, i.e. upside down but correct image.

in other telescopes with a diagonal, the image is right side up, but left and right mirrored.

You can't zoom in or out with a fixed focal eyepiece, you need a zoom eyepiece to do that. The knob you're turning is just to get image in focus, nothing more.

[Charic]

SONY007.........Hi, The reports  above are not true,  your 32mm  TeleVue lens is faulty, you can send it to me, now? 

My old Celestron has a corrector lens, so when you look at the Church spire in the distance, it is normal( corrected)  but a telescope alone with a standard eyepiece will show the images upside-down, which for most stellar objects is not a problem.

Remember to send that faulty lens to me? Its no good for you, especially if its upside down. 

Now to be honest. A very nice lens you have there, and one that you should never get rid. It will do you fine on any scope that you fit it too. A bigger aperture on your next scope will improve the magnitude and contrast, and with the TeleVue, you`ll have another wow! moment. If you  ever take your scope to a Star party or just the lens, try it in a larger telescope.

[CSM]

Also one of my first purchases and I always start off using it first.

[bingevader]

Your telescope has a focal length of 650mm. That's the distance from the mirror to the eyepiece.

You work out what magnification a specific eyepiece gives by dividing the telescope's focal length by the focal length of your eyepiece.

So, for your 32mm TV (plossl I assume, nice eyepiece btw) that's 650/32=20x magnification (20x what you can see with the naked eye).

To "zoom" in, you need a zoom lens or a different eyepiece with a smaller focal length.

Your telescope probably came with a 25mm eyepiece? So that would give 650/25=26x magnification

And maybe a 10mm eyepiece? 650/10=65x magnification. A smaller focal length eyepiece, say a 5mm would give 650/5=130x magnification.

So you alter the "zoom" or magnification by altering the eyepiece.

Hope that helps!

[SONY007]

Guys thanks you very much for that, that's a relief to know thats all is as it should be.

One more question if thats ok.

For those who take their telescope's out to different locations, where do you guys get your protective cases from to carry the scope in? I've tried Ebay and amazon but it's limited, very limited.  Do you just improvise and create your own protective casing?

[bingevader]

Maplins flight cases I think some use.

I have neoprene camera lens pouches for mine! 

Cheers

[SONY007]

Maplins flight cases I think some use.

I have neoprene camera lens pouches for mine! 

Cheers

Thank you very much.

[Astro Imp]

I use a cricket kit bag.

[brantuk]

Maplins flight cases have pick 'n' pluck foam so you can pull out the shape of the eyepiece to suit or simply push the eyepiece in to dent the foam down to the shape of your eyepieces:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/flight-case-with-foam-n70ap

I have five of them for all my accessories including eyepieces, cameras, barlows, angle guage, collimator, etc. The cases come up on offer now and then for £25'ish if you're prepared to wait a couple of months.

[brantuk]

Incidentally - you can turn your new TV 32mm into a 16mm by using it with a 2x barlow. That would give you an extra magnification level for each eyepiece in your collection. Be aware though that you can get 1.6x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 4x and 5x barlows and they all come in either 1.25" or 2" varieties. So you need to match to existing equipment carefully, and also not push the magnification beyond your scope's natural limit.

[SONY007]

Incidentally - you can turn your new TV 32mm into a 16mm by using it with a 2x barlow. That would give you an extra magnification level for each eyepiece in your collection. Be aware though that you can get 1.6x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 4x and 5x barlows and they all come in either 1.25" or 2" varieties. So you need to match to existing equipment carefully, and also not push the magnification beyond your scope's natural limit

I have a x2 barlow that came with the celestron accessory kit that I also got for christmas, I've not used it as yet though.

Its been cloudy in London for the last few days so haven't tested my scope on night viewing as yet.

[Moonshane]

Incidentally - you can turn your new TV 32mm into a 16mm by using it with a 2x barlow. That would give you an extra magnification level for each eyepiece in your collection. Be aware though that you can get 1.6x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 4x and 5x barlows and they all come in either 1.25" or 2" varieties. So you need to match to existing equipment carefully, and also not push the magnification beyond your scope's natural limit.

it's a great suggestion but do consider eye relief as a barlow often doubles the eye relief of the eyepiece used. the 32mm plossl already has quite long eye relief so making it longer might create other issues.

[AlexB67]

The other issue you may want to be aware of that with plossls vignetting can become apparent in a barlow. II can't tell you first hand how much of an issue it is. Suffice it to say there are enough discussions to be found on it in relation to the TV plossls. 

Should you decide to go that rout try before you buy may not be a bad idea if that is possible. Worth mentioning perhaps, but a rather costly option Is that the powermate that offers the same functionality as a barlow will not have that issue and will also preserve the eye relief of the eyepiece as far as I recall. 

Worth considering early on if you decide to go the route of doubling your eyepieces with such an extra instead of going eyepieces alone.  A 2x powermate can be got second hand at times for around 100 pounds, not uncommon second  hand, even new they are double the price of a new TV plossl.  Once you own it  you have an accessory that will function as if your eyepieces are effectively as good as a single eyepiece, that is if you don't mind the extra weight and hassle of handling one when changing eyepieces.